Three-City Disaster (Game 63-65)

These two 38-year-olds were the cleanup hitters the last two times the Red Sox scored just one run in three games. One was headed to Cooperstown. The other might be.

We just witnessed something we haven’t seen in 21 years. Indeed, if you or someone you love was born during the window of April 21-23, 1993, take solace that they don’t really remember when the Sox were held to one run in three games then, and they can reach for the alcohol to soothe having seen it now.

There’s really not much to say after that display in Baltimore, or across the whole run through Cleveland and Detroit. The Sox were swept by the Indians, who are at least one of the hottest teams in baseball. (They’re also waiting for the Sox at Fenway the next four days.) They came within an inning of being swept by the stumbling Tigers, and it took a 1-0 victory to keep them from an 0-9 road trip.

“We still believe it’s gonna get better. We believe we’ve got a very good team ahead of us this year. Most of that is still going to come from within with guys here performing, getting back to a level they’re accustomed to and then if we can do that and start playing a little better and win some games and hang in there, we’ll try to find anyway we can to make improvements to the team as the summer goes on.”

We could talk about the pitching, of course, but do we really need to? Jake Peavy was relatively bad on Monday night, his sinker not netting a single swing and miss, his fastball netting just two, but he still allowed just four runs in seven innings. Bad? Sure. Insurmountable? Hardly … the Sox were facing Bud Norris, a guy who had a 6.88 ERA and .844 OPS against in his prior three starts.

Rubby De La Rosa was down 3-0 after the first on Wednesday, leaving a ball up to Chris Davis, but fanned seven of the remaining 21 batters he faced against five singles, one run and one walk. Guys who give up four runs without finishing the sixth can’t expect to win. Chris Capuano, who retired three of 13 batters faced on the road trip — that’d be a .700/.769/1.300 line against if you’re scoring at home – and has a 7.24 ERA since allowing his first runs of the year on May 3, did not leave anyone feeling like that game was an opportunity lost.

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Jon Couture

Jon Couture has been covering the Red Sox for The Standard-Times since the 2003 playoffs, when management asked him the odd question, "Would you like to go to New York to cover the first two games of the ALCS?" Though he missed the memorable Don ... Read Full